Running head: SITUATIONAL EXPERIENCE AROUND THE WORLD 1
In press, Journal of Personality
(acceptance date May 13, 2020)
Situational Experience around the World:
A Replication and Extension in 62 Countries
Daniel I. Lee
Gwendolyn Gardiner
Erica Baranski
Members of the International Situations Project1
David C. Funder
1 Maite Beramendi (Universidad de Buenos Aires), Brock Bastian (University of Melbourne), Aljoscha Neubauer
(University of Graz), Diego Cortez and Eric Roth (Universidad Católica Bolviana, La Paz), Ana Torres (Federal
University of Paraíba), Daniela S. Zanini (Pontifical Catholic University of Goiás), Kristina Petkova (Bulgarian
Academy of Sciences), Jessica Tracy (University of British Columbia), Catherine Amiot and Mathieu Pelletier-
Dumas (Université du Québec à Montréal), Roberto González (Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile), Ana
Rosenbluth (Universidad Adolfo Ibáñez), Sergio Salgado (Universidad de La Frontera), Yanjun Guan (Durham
University, UK), Yu Yang (ShanghaiTech University), Diego Forero (Fundación Universitaria del Área Andina,
Bogotá), Andrés Camargo (Universidad Antonio Nariño, Bogotá and Universidad de Ciencias Aplicadas y
Ambientales, Bogotá), Emmanouil Papastefanakis (University of Crete), Georgios Kritsotakis (Technological
Institute of Crete), Eirini Spyridaki (University of Crete), and Evangelia Fragkiadaki (Hellenic American
University), Željko Jerneić (University of Zagreb), Martina Hřebíčková and Sylvie Graf (Czech Academy of
Sciences), Pernille Strøbæk (University of Copenhagen), Anu Realo (University of Warwick and University of
Tartu), Maja Becker (CLLE, Université de Toulouse, CNRS, UT2J, France), Christelle Maisonneuve (Univ Rennes,
LP3C (Laboratoire de Psychologie : Cognition, Comportement, Communication) - EA 1285, F-35000 Rennes,
France), Sofian El-Astal (Al Azhar University-Gaza (Palestine)), Vladimer Lado Gamsakhurdia (Ivane Javakhishvili
Tbilisi State University), John Rauthmann (Universität zu Lübeck), Matthias Ziegler (Humboldt University), Lars
Penke (University of Goettingen & Leipniz Science Campus Primate Cognition), Emma E. Buchtel (The Education
University of Hong Kong), Victoria Wai-Lan Yeung (Lingnan University), Ágota Kun and Peter Gadanecz
(Budapest University of Technology and Economics), Zoltán Vass and Máté Smohai (Karoli Gaspar University of
the Reformed Church in Hungary), Anagha Lavalekar (Jnana Prabodihini’s Institute of Psychology, Pune), Abhijit
Das (AMRI Institute of Neurosciences, Kolkata), Meta Zahro Aurelia and Dian Kinayung (Univeritas Ahmad
Dahlan), Vanessa Gaffar (Universitas Pendidikan Indonesia), Gavin Sullivan and Christopher Day (Coventry
University, England), Eyal Rechter (Ono Academic College), Marco Perugini and Giulio Costantini (University of
Milan-Bicocca), Augusto Gnisci, Ida Sergi, and Vincenzo Paolo Senese (University of Campania, “Luigi
Vanvitelli”), Tatsuya Sato and Yuki Nakata (Ritsumeikan University), Shizuka Kawamoto (Yamanashi University),
Asuka Komiya (Hiroshima University), Marwan Al-Zoubi (University of Jordan), Nicholas Owsley, Chaning Jang,
Georgina Mburu, and Irene Ngina (Busara Center for Behavioral Economics), Girts Dimdins (University of Latvia),
Rasa Barkauskiene and Alfredas Laurinavicius (Vilnius University), Marijana Markovikj and Eleonara
Serafimovska (Saints Cyril and Methodius University of Skopje), Khairul A. Mastor (Universiti Kebangsaan
SITUATIONAL EXPERIENCE AROUND THE WORLD
2
Malaysia), Elliott Kruse (EGADE Business School Monterrey), Nairán Ramírez-Esparza (Fundación Universidad de
las Américas Puebla), Jaap Denissen (Tilburg University), Marcel Van Aken (University of Utrecht), Ron Fischer
(Victoria University of Wellington, Wellington), Ike E. Onyishi and Kalu T. Ogba (University of Nigeria, Nsukka),
Siri Leknes, Vera Waldal Holen, Ingelin Hansen, Christian Krog Tamnes, and Kaia Klæva, (University of Oslo),
Rukhsana Kausar and Nashi Khan, (University of the Punjab, Lahore), Muhammad Rizwan (Government of
Pakistan), Agustín Espinosa (Pontificia Universidad Católica del Peru), Maria Cecilia Gastardo- Conaco, and Diwa
Malaya A. Quiñones (University of Philippines-Diliman), Paweł Izdebski (Kazimierz Wielki University), Martyna
Kotyśko (University of Warmia and Mazury), Piotr Szarota (Institute of Psychology of The Polish Academy of
Sciences), Joana Henriques-Calado (CICPSI, Faculdade de Psicologia, Universidade de Lisboa, Alameda da
Universidade, 1649-013 Lisboa, Portugal), Florin Alin Sava (West University of Timisoara), Olya Lvova, Victoria
Pogrebitskaya, Mikhail Allakhverdov, and Sergey Manichev (St. Petersburg State University), Oumar Barry
(Université Cheikh Anta Diop de Dakar-Sénégal), Snežana Smederevac, Petar Čolović, Dušanka Mitrović, and
Milan Oljača (University of Novi Sad), Ryan Hong (National University of Singapore), Peter Halama (Slovak
Academy of Sciences), Janek Musek (University of Ljubljana), Francois De Kock (University of Cape Town),
Gyuseog Han (Chonnam National University), Eunkook M. Suh and Soyeon Choi (Yonsei University), David
Gallardo-Pujol (University of Barcelona), Luis Oceja and Sergio Villar (Universidad Autónoma de Madrid), Zoltan
Kekecs, Nils Arlinghaus, Daniel P. Johnson, and Alice Kathryn O’Donnell (Lund University), Clara Kulich and
Fabio Lorenzi-Cioldi (Université de Genève), Janina Larissa Bühler (University of Basel), Mathias Allemand
(University of Zurich), Yen-Ping Chang (University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill), Weifang Lin (Chung Yuan
Christian University), Watcharaporn Boonyasiriwat (Chulalongkorn University), S. Adil Saribay (Boğaziçi
University), Oya Somer (Cyprus International University), Pelin Karakus Akalin (Istinye University, Istanbul), Peter
Kakubeire Baguma (Makerere University), Alexander Vinogradov (Taras Shevchenko National University of
Kyiv), Larisa Zhuravlova (Zhytomyr Ivan Franko State University), Mark Conner (University of Leeds), Jason
Rentfrow (University of Cambridge), Alexa Tullett (University of Alabama), Kyle Sauerberger (University of
California, Riverside), Nairán Ramírez-Esparza (University of Connecticut), Douglas E. Colman (Idaho State
University), Joey T. Cheng (University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign), Eric Stocks (University of Texas, Tyler),
and Huyen Thi Thu Bui (Hanoi National University of Education).
SITUATIONAL EXPERIENCE AROUND THE WORLD
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Abstract
Objective
The current study seeks to replicate and extend principal findings reported in The World at 7:00
(Guillaume et al., 2016), a project that examined the psychological experience of situations in 20
countries.
Method
Data were collected from participants in 62 countries (N = 15,318), recruited from universities
by local collaborators to complete the study via a custom-built website using 42 languages.
Results
Several findings of the previous study were replicated. The average reported situational
experience around the world was mildly positive. The same countries tended to be most alike in
reported situational experience (r = .60) across the two studies, among the countries included in
both. As in the previous study, the homogeneity of reported situational experience was
significantly greater within than between countries, although the difference was small. The
previously reported exploratory finding that negative aspects of situations varied more across
countries than positive aspects did not replicate. Correlations between aspects of reported
situational experience and country-level average value scores, personality, and demographic
variables were largely similar between the two studies.
Conclusion
The findings underscore the importance of cross-cultural situational research and the need to
replicate its results, and highlight the complex interplay of culture and situational experience.
SITUATIONAL EXPERIENCE AROUND THE WORLD
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Introduction
The idea that behavior is a function of both persons and the environments they experience
(Lewin, 1951) became widely accepted only after decades of research and argument pitting the
two forces against one another (Bem & Allen, 1974; Block, 1977; Bowers, 1973; Epstein, 1979;
Kenrick & Funder, 1988; Mischel, 1968). Even with this recognition, researchers have only
recently begun to take seriously the assessment of situations as well as persons (Funder, 2016;
Parrigon, Woo, Tay, & Wang, 2017; Rauthmann & Sherman, 2018; Rauthmann, Sherman, &
Funder, 2015; Sherman et al., 2014). One spur to research was the development of the Riverside
Situational Q-sort (RSQ; Wagerman & Funder, 2009). The items of the RSQ describe
psychologically meaningful characteristics of situations (e.g., “The situation is potentially
enjoyable”; “A job needs to be done”) which can be rated by the individuals who experience
them or by external observers (Rauthmann, Sherman, & Funder, 2015).
Researchers have used the RSQ to assess the relationships between ordinary situations,
persons, and behavior (e.g., Funder, 2016; Morse, Neel, Todd, & Funder, 2015; Sherman, Nave,
& Funder, 2019), and how these relationships vary cross-culturally (Guillaume et al., 2013). A
previous article from our research group, titled The World at 7:002 (Guillaume et al., 2016),
explored the nature of situational experience across 20 countries. The goal of the current study is
to replicate and extend the principal findings reported in that article. Specifically, the present
study both extends the original study by reporting new data from 62 countries, gathered using
similar (but not identical) methods, and seeks to replicate previous findings using analyses
parallel to the original study.
2 The title referred to the instruction for participants to describe their situational experience at 7:00 pm the previous
day.
SITUATIONAL EXPERIENCE AROUND THE WORLD
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The Need for Replication
Although some researchers have opined that replication research reveals a lack of
creativity and even allows individuals to build careers on poor methodological execution
(Baumeister, 2016), recent efforts to replicate previous findings are proving to be valuable
contributions to science at large. Extending to fields outside of psychology, (Button et al., 2013;
Camerer et al., 2016; Cova et al., in press) replication projects have provided insights into what
we know, or what we thought we knew, about human behavior (Simmons, Nelson, &
Simonsohn, 2011; Open Science Collaboration, 2015).
Perhaps due to a historical focus on rigor and precision of measurement (Baumeister,
Vohs, & Funder, 2007; Wiggins, 1973), personality psychology has been left relatively
untargeted by large scale replication attempts. A recent exception is the Life Outcomes of
Personality Replication Project (LOOPR; Soto, in press), which addressed the relationship
between the Big Five personality traits and important life outcomes (Ozer & Benet-Martínez,
2006), finding that 87% of the surveyed studies replicated the originally reported effects. Large
scale replications of cross-cultural results are even more rare. The few available examples have
focused on cross-cultural differences in personality measurement, finding, for example, that
questionnaire factor structures originally found in English speaking samples largely replicated in
Hebrew and German speaking samples (Almagor, Tellegen, & Waller, 1995; Saucier &
Ostendorf, 1999). Notwithstanding these examples, if large-scale replication projects remain rare
in psychology, they are even more rare in cross-cultural psychological research.
Current Study
The current study seeks to replicate and extend previous findings of a 20-country study of
the relationships between situational experience, personality, and a variety of country-level
SITUATIONAL EXPERIENCE AROUND THE WORLD
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variables. While exploratory in nature, the original article, The World at 7:00 (Guillaume et al.,
2013), presented broad goals paired with a number of specific questions for its study of
situational experience across cultures. Listed below are the research questions and original
findings that we seek to re-examine.
1. Situational experience around the world. On average, how do individuals around the
world rate their situational experience? Original finding: the average reported situation
was found to be simple, social, and mildly enjoyable.
2. Homogeneity of situational experience. How similar to each other, or homogeneous, are
individuals’ situational experiences, both within and between countries? Original finding:
individuals within the same country report experiencing more similar situations than
those in different countries.
3. Variability of situational experiences. Original finding: negative characteristics of
situations vary more across countries than positive characteristics. This finding of the
previous study, while theoretically sensible, was not predicted and needs to be replicated.
4. Country-level correlates. How are aspects of average situational experience related to
other country-level variables? Original finding: among the tested variables,
Individualism, Openness to Experience, and Neuroticism were found to be related to
situational experience at greater than chance rates.
Method
The data analyzed here were collected as part of a larger study regarding individual
differences and cross-cultural situational experience that went beyond the previous study in
many ways. The present report focuses on the measures included in the World at 7:00;
information on other measures can be found on our Open Science Framework project
SITUATIONAL EXPERIENCE AROUND THE WORLD
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(https://osf.io/yv2nq/). Some of the data from the larger study have been reported elsewhere
(Gardiner et al., 2019), and further analyses are planned or in progress. The analyses reported
here are unique.
Participants
Data from 15,318 members of university and college communities (10,771 females,
4,468 males, 79 other or did not disclose) across 62 countries (see Table 1) were included.
Samples from three other countries (Belgium, Finland, and Iceland) with fewer than 50
participants were not included. Participants were recruited within their universities or colleges by
local collaborators who were all psychological researchers. This aspect of the recruitment is
unusual as we did not recruit via MTurk or similar platforms - all participants were individually
recruited by and known to local collaborators. Incentives for participation varied across
locations. All participants were offered feedback on their personalities (based on BFI-2 scores;
Soto & John, 2017), and in some cases they also received extra credit, course credit, or a small
amount of monetary compensation.
Procedure
A custom-built website, designed in collaboration with the Center for Open Science
(ispstudy.ucr.edu3), allowed participants across the world to simultaneously access the study
materials in their preferred language (42 languages in all). All materials were translated by local
psychologists who are members of the International Situations Project, back translated by an
independent researcher, and compared with the original to assure accuracy.
After selecting their language and entering their participant and study ID assigned by the
local researcher, participants offered their informed consent. They then completed a bevy of
3 The url used for the study was ispstudy.net (no longer active). Screenshots of the entire survey in English are
available at https://osf.io/yv2nq/
SITUATIONAL EXPERIENCE AROUND THE WORLD
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questionnaires including demographic information, situational experience and behaviors,
personality traits, and other individual difference variables. Of most relevance to the present
study, participants were asked to rate an experience from the previous day that they “remember
well” using the RSQ. This is a notable difference from the World at 7:00 study, which asked
participants to report on what they were doing at 7pm the previous day. One of the reasons for
this change is that a number of participants reported not remembering what they were doing at
that time the previous day, and we doubted that meaningful data could be obtained about
situations that participants did not recall well. Potential implications of this change are detailed
in the discussion section. After completing all measures, participants were offered the
opportunity to receive feedback on their Big Five personality traits. Measures pertaining to the
current study are described below, including country-level measures previously collected by
other researchers or obtained from openly accessible databases.
Measures
Riverside Situational Q-sort. In order to assess situational experience, participants
completed the Riverside Situational Q-sort (RSQ; Wagerman & Funder, 2009), a comprehensive
measure of situational characteristics. Using the most recent version of the measure (4.1;
Sauerberger & Funder, in press), the 90-item Q-sort forces a quasi-normal distribution of items
across a scale of 1 (Extremely Uncharacteristic) to 9 (Extremely characteristic) (see Table 2).
The original study (Guillaume et al., 2013) measured situational experience using the 89-item
RSQ version 3.15 (Funder & Guillaume, 2013). Analyses regarding the replicable nature of
cross-cultural situational experience are restricted to 69 items that overlap between the two
versions.
SITUATIONAL EXPERIENCE AROUND THE WORLD
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In addition to participants’ ratings of their situations, 39 of our collaborators from 26
countries rated the extent to which each of the 90 RSQ items reflected a positive or negative
experience. Items were rated on a 1 (negative experience) to 9 (positive experience) Likert-type
scale. The average reliability of the 90 positivity ratings was alpha = .99.
Big-Five Inventory. To measure each individual’s personality, participants completed
the Big Five Inventory-2 (BFI-2, Soto & John, 2017), a 60-item measure of the Big Five
Personality traits. Using a 5-point scale, participants rated each of the items from 1 (Disagree
strongly) to 5 (Agree strongly). Across the 62 countries, the average alpha reliabilities were
Extraversion (.81), Agreeableness (.76), Conscientiousness (.83), Neuroticism (.86), and
Openness (.80). No personality measure was administered to participants of the original study;
for the present study the BFI-2 was chosen for its reliability, brevity, and ease of access.
Country-Level Measures. A country-level measure of situational experience was
computed using the individual responses to the RSQ. First, in order to have each of the sexes
equally represented, an aggregated RSQ profile was computed separately for males and females
for each of the respective countries (values for each of the sexes on all of the items for the
sample at large can be found in Table 2; 79 individuals across our 62 countries that reported as
“other” or “would rather not say” were not included). The male and female RSQ profiles for
each country were then averaged in order to compute a single representative profile for each
country equally weighted by sex. The same procedure for computing each country-level average
measure of situational experience was followed in the original study (Guillaume et al., 2013).
Measures of country-level personality were obtained in two different ways. The original
study (Guillaume et al., 2013) did not gather personality information; therefore, country-level
Big Five personality scores were obtained from previous research (Schmitt, Allik, McCrae, &
SITUATIONAL EXPERIENCE AROUND THE WORLD
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Benet-Martínez, 2007). For comparability, these same scores were employed in the present
study, although they were not available for all countries in our samples (16 of 20 in the original
study, 43 of 62 in the current study). Unlike the original study, the current study included the
BFI-2, and thus provided personality scores for all 62 countries. These trait scores were first
averaged by sex within each country before being combined to yield country-level averages.
Across the 43 countries for which both Schmitt et al. (2007) average scores and our BFI-2 scores
were available, the average correlation between these two country-level measures of personality
was r = .52, showing statistically significant agreement for all traits except Agreeableness
(Extraversion: r(41) = .38, p = .01, Agreeableness: r (41) = .22, p = .16, Conscientiousness:
r(41) = .69, p < .001, Neuroticism4: r = .54, p < .001, Openness r(41) = .50, p < .001).
Country-level values scores were also obtained from previous research5 (Hofstede, 1983)
that measured national culture along 6 dimensions: Power Distance, Individualism (versus
collectivism), Masculinity (versus femininity), Uncertainty Avoidance, Long Term Orientation
(versus short term orientation), and Indulgence (versus restraint).
Demographic country variables were obtained from publicly available databases. These
include per-capita Gross Domestic Product (GDP; Central Intelligence Agency, 2016) and
population density (World Bank, 2016).
Results
All analyses were computed using the “psych” package (Revelle, 2018) in “R” (R Core
Team, 2018). The analyses presented below intentionally mirror the analyses presented in the
original article as closely as possible to facilitate comparison. Further and more detailed
4 For the sake of consistency, the dimensions Neuroticism and Negative Emotionality will both be referred to as
Neuroticism. Also, Openness and Open-Mindedness will be referred to as Openness. 5 The country-level values data are publicly available at https://www.hofstede-insights.com/product/compare-
countries/.
SITUATIONAL EXPERIENCE AROUND THE WORLD
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analyses, including many unique to this study, can be found in the Supplementary Materials (see
https://osf.io/xzgfd/).
Of particular interest are relationships that are reliable across studies and measures; such
relationships will be reported here in greater detail. The criteria used to assess reliability will be
described in each case. In many cases, the major question is the reliability of patterns of
correlations. This will be assessed using “vector correlations,” in which the pattern of
correlations within one data set is correlated with the pattern of correlations in the other data set,
across pairs of variables. The N for such analyses is the number of correlations being compared6.
Standards for assessing whether a finding has been “replicated” have become a complex and
controversial topic within psychology (e.g., Simons, 2014). While many such standards have
been suggested and even more are possible, for present purposes we simply considered a pattern
of relationships to have replicated if the vector correlation was statistically significant. The
reader is invited to inspect our findings using one’s own preferred standard, if applicable.
Situational Experience around the World
Table 2 lists each of the RSQ items’ average rating world-wide, ordered from highest to
lowest. It is apparent that the average situational experience around the world is generally
positive, socially involving, and largely unthreatening. This observation replicates our earlier
findings and the conclusion that the average reported situation around the world is “a largely
pleasant social interaction” (Guillaume et al., 2016, p. 499). The correlation between average
RSQ item placement for the 69 items that appear in both the previous study and current study
6 However, the df for these analyses is a complex matter because the correlations are not independent of each other
(Sherman & Funder, 2009).
SITUATIONAL EXPERIENCE AROUND THE WORLD
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was r = .867, thus indicating a high degree of similarity in reported situational experience
between the two studies. This high degree of similarity exists despite the fact that, unlike in the
original study where participants were instructed to describe the situation they experienced the
previous day at 7 pm, our participants were able to freely choose any situation they experienced
in the previous 24 hours that they remembered well.
A further question addressed in the original article concerned which countries are the
most and least similar in their average situational experience. Using each country’s composite
RSQ profile, the average situational ratings for each country were correlated with each other,
resulting in a 62 x 62 correlation table (see Supplementary Materials). Each country’s average
correlation with each of the other 61 countries, which reflects the overall similarity of its
situational experience with the world at large, is presented in Table 3. For countries previously
reported in The World at 7:00, the average correlation with all other countries in the respective
data set are listed in the columns to the right of Table 3. The correlation between these pairs of
values, across the 20 countries included in both studies, was r = .60 (p = .005). The overall
average cross-cultural similarity among 62 countries in the current study was r = .81. This value
among the 20 countries in the original study was r = .84. In both studies, countries highly similar
to the others in the sample included Canada and the United States; countries low in similarity to
the others included Japan and South Korea. Among the 20 overlapping countries, Japan was
found to be the least similar to the others in both studies.
7 As mentioned in the previous footnote, although for this correlation one could calculate df = 67, p < .001, the
degrees of freedom and therefore p level are highly imprecise because the ipsatively-rated q-items are intercorrelated
in complex ways.
SITUATIONAL EXPERIENCE AROUND THE WORLD
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Homogeneity of Situational Experience
The second research question examines the extent to which situational experience differs
within and across countries. That is, are reported situational experiences more similar among
individuals from the same (vs. a different) country? This analysis entails correlating each
individual’s RSQ profile with that of each other individual within a country, and then averaging
those correlations. This analysis was completed for each gender separately, then once again
averaged to compute the homogeneity of situational experience within each country. These
gender-balanced values can be found in Table 4. The average correlation of the reported
situational experience of each participant within each country with that of each participant within
in all the other countries in the sample is presented in Table 4 (see Supplementary Materials for a
matrix of all country pairs). Replicating the finding in the original article, situational experiences
within countries were more similar to each other than they were between countries (within
country average r = .166 [.155, .176]; between country average r = .139 [.138, .140]), although,
as in the previous study, the difference is small. These values along with those reported in the
previous study can be found in the final line of Table 4.
Further analyses compared the homogeneity of specific countries as assessed in both
studies. Restricted to the 20 countries that are present in both studies, there is little consistency in
the countries that are the most and least homogeneous. The correlation between country-level
homogeneity of situational experience across the two studies is r = .03, p = .91, which must be
considered a failure to replicate the differences among countries on this variable.
Variability of Situational Experience
The third research question examined a previous exploratory finding, that more negative
aspects of situational experience varied more widely across countries than did positive aspects.
SITUATIONAL EXPERIENCE AROUND THE WORLD
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Similar to the original study, international collaborators (N = 39) rated each of the 90 RSQ items
from 1 (a negative experience) to 9 (a positive experience) (see Table 5). Assessed using a
simple t-test, the same analysis used in the prior study, the 15 least variable items were not
notably different in their positivity from the 15 most variable items t(28) = -.83, p = .41. This is a
failure to replicate the previous finding; in fact, the finding of the new, larger study was (non-
significantly) in the opposite direction. When restricting the sample to the 20 countries that were
included in the original study, we also fail to find the relationship t(28) = -.076, p = .94.
Country-Level Correlates
The final research questions investigated the correlations between situational experience
and country-level values, personality, and objective country-level measures. All of the
relationships presented here were originally explored in the World at 7:00. As in the original
study, given the large number and exploratory nature of the analyses, each set of correlations is
first assessed with a randomization test computed using the “multicon” package (Sherman, 2015)
in the statistical software “R” (R Core Team, 2019). In this test, 10,000 random simulations of
the correlations of interest compose two distributions of values expected by chance. These
distributions, of the average absolute effect size and number of correlations that attain
significance at p < .05, indicate the frequency of the empirically obtained values that occurred in
a chance distribution (for further explanation, see Sherman & Funder, 2009)8.
As mentioned previously, each set of analyses was also compared across samples with a
vector correlation, which entails correlating the patterns of correlations between the RSQ and the
country-level variable of interest from the two studies. The N for this analysis is the number of
8 The “number of significant correlations” is a cruder and more arbitrary measure of association than is the average
absolute value of the correlations, but the former number is more familiar and perhaps easier to understand
(Sherman & Funder, 2009).
SITUATIONAL EXPERIENCE AROUND THE WORLD
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relationships being compared; using the RSQ items that the studies have in common, this number
is 69. Relationships that were found to be particularly reliable, i.e., passed the randomization test
in both studies and resulted in a strong vector correlation, will be detailed here in greater depth.
A full report of the country-level correlations with the RSQ is in the Supplementary Materials.
Values. The first set of correlations is between country-level RSQ profiles and six value
dimensions: Power Distance, Individualism, Uncertainty Avoidance, Masculinity, Long-term
Orientation, and Indulgence (Hofstede, 1983). All but one of the value dimensions (Masculinity)
yielded a greater number of RSQ correlates than expected by chance in the current study. The
vector correlations for the relationships between reported situational experience and these value
dimensions across studies can be found in Table 6. For each of the values dimensions, not
including Masculinity, these analyses show that the pattern of correlations is very similar across
studies. Also (displayed on the right side of the table), when analyses are restricted to countries
that are only present in both studies, the similarity of the relationships between values and
situational experience (not including Power Distance) sees a considerable increase.
While the vector correlations do suggest that the relationship between a country’s values
and average situational experience are similar in the two samples, only the dimension of
Individualism was found to be correlated with the RSQ to a degree greater than chance both in
the original World at 7:00 study and in the current analyses. In the current study, Individualism
was related to 29 of the 90 RSQ items. The strongest positive relationships were with the items:
“people are comparing themselves to each other” (item #63), and “the situation is potentially
enjoyable” (#1). Two of the strongest negative correlations were with the items: “self-control is
necessary” (#24), and “someone is attempting to dominate or boss you” (#17). For a full list of
correlates, see Supplementary Materials, Table 6. The vector correlation of the situational
SITUATIONAL EXPERIENCE AROUND THE WORLD
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correlates of Individualism across the two studies was r(67) = .47, p < .001. For a complete list
of the items correlated with the values dimensions, along with the results of the randomization
tests, see Supplementary Materials, Tables 1-6.
Big Five Personality Traits. The second set of country-level correlates is between the
Big Five personality traits and reported situational experience. This relationship was examined
using two different measures of country-level personality. The first set of country level
personality scores was gathered in prior research published by other investigators (Schmitt,
Allik, McCrae, & Benet-Martínez, 2007). As such, the analyses using this measure of country-
level personality pertained to 43 of the 62 countries in our sample for which average trait scores
were available. The second measure of traits was computed from our own data, using our
participants’ responses to the BFI-2 (Soto & John, 2017) in all 62 countries. As described
previously, male and female participants’ scores were first averaged separately, then averaged
together for each country such that country-level personality profiles represented each gender
equally.
Table 7 displays a series of vector correlations summarizing the similarity of
relationships between situational experience and personality across studies, samples, and
measures. The first line of the table reports that the vector correlation for the relationships
between extraversion and situational experience, as found in Guillaume et al. (2013) using the
Schmitt et al. (2007) values, and our current study using the BFI-2, was r = .23. When this
relationship was examined restricting countries in our current sample to those that were present
in the original study (n = 16) the vector correlation increased to r = .54, p < .001. The vector
correlation of the relationships between situational experience and the same measure of
Extraversion (Schmitt et al., 2007) across studies was r = .41. Once again, when restricted to the
SITUATIONAL EXPERIENCE AROUND THE WORLD
17
countries present in both studies (n = 16) this correlation was r = .57. The correlations between
studies increased systematically when using the same measure of personality and increased
further when compared across the same countries. Note that there was a good deal of similarity
between the findings of the two studies even when different measures of the Big Five, from
different sources, were used. This result will be considered further in the Discussion.
In the current study, using the measures reported by Schmitt et al. (2007),
Conscientiousness, Neuroticism, and Openness all yielded correlations with RSQ items that were
greater than expected by chance in both number and effect size. Using the same source (Schmitt
et al., 2007) for country-level measures of personality, the original study only found Neuroticism
and Openness to be related to situational experience at a rate greater than chance. In the current
study, some of the strongest positive relationships between country-level Neuroticism and
reported situational experience were with the items: “the situation could arouse negative
emotions” (#68), “someone needs to be taken care of” (#76), and “emotional threats are present”
(#36). Conversely, some of the situational experience items negatively related to neuroticism are:
“ambition can be expressed or demonstrated” (#56), and “someone is complimenting or praising
you” (#73). For Openness, some of the strongest positive relationships were with items: “music
is an important part of this situations” (#87), and “sexuality is relevant” (#58) Negative
correlates include items: “someone is blaming you for something” (#22), and “someone is
attempting to dominate or boss you” (#17). The full list of situational correlates of both
Neuroticism and Openness across both studies are presented in Tables 11 and 12 of the
Supplementary Materials.
Along with passing the randomization test across both studies, Neuroticism and Openness
show similarity in their patterns of results. For Neuroticism, a vector correlation of the overall
SITUATIONAL EXPERIENCE AROUND THE WORLD
18
pattern of results between studies showed substantial similarity (r(67) = .31, p = .01). This
similarity of results increased when the sample was restricted to countries present in both studies
(r(67) = .66, p < .001). Openness also resulted in a similar pattern of relationships between
situational experience and the country-level personality trait across studies (r(67) = .34, p =
.004). Once again, this similarity was further bolstered when restricting the samples to only
countries (16) present in both studies (r(67) = .70, p <.001).
Using our participants’ responses to the BFI-2, all country-level personality traits, except
for Extraversion, passed our randomization and produced more correlations than would be
expected by chance. The individual relationships between situational experience and the
respective country-level BFI-2 trait can be found in the supplementary materials.
Demographic country-level variables. The final set of country-level correlations are
with demographic measures. These included a measure of economic activity (Gross Domestic
Product per-capita) and population density. Although neither of these country-level variables
were found to be related to situational experience at a rate greater than chance in the previous
study, the current set of analyses allowed for an exploration with a larger number of countries.
Both GDP per-capita and population were found to have greater than chance correlations with
situational experience (see Supplementary Materials, Tables 13 and 14). However, the pattern of
correlates for both samples were still very similar. The vector correlations for these relationships
across studies are reported in Table 8. Because this article focuses on findings that are consistent
across studies, these findings will not be considered further here.
Discussion
The current study aimed to follow up on previous findings regarding cross-cultural
patterns of situational experience. As implied by its title, the original article The World at 7:00
SITUATIONAL EXPERIENCE AROUND THE WORLD
19
(Guillaume et al., 2013), examined situations experienced by participants across 20 countries the
previous day at 7 pm. Both replicating and expanding upon this ambitious original endeavor, the
current project collected new data from 62 countries, including the 20 included in the previous
study. While still investigating cross-cultural relationships using ordinary, everyday situations,
the current study asked participants to report on any situation from the previous day that they
“remember well.” This change in procedure was made in response to the types of situations
participants reported in the original study, which included a relatively small range of activities
such as eating dinner, studying, or moving from one place to the next9. The change also
encouraged participants to describe situations which they report they remember well – the
previous restriction of reporting what they were doing at 7 pm resulted in a number of
participants stating that they didn’t remember. Despite this procedural difference, the results
reported here provide further evidence for (and in a few cases against) the reliability of
previously reported findings (Simons, 2014). For an overall summary of the methodological
differences across studies, along with a comparison of results, see Table 8.
Situational Experience Across Countries
In both the current study and The World at 7:00, we observed that average reported
situational experience was generally similar when comparing all pairs of countries around the
world (average r = .81 and .84, respectively). The average reported situation in both studies was
social and enjoyable. Given what university students are likely doing at 7 pm, e.g. commuting,
socializing, or having dinner, this seems a likely scenario. However, participants in the present
study were prompted to report any situation the previous day that they remembered well, and
some research suggests that individuals are particularly likely to recall negative events (Vaish,
9 Even with our efforts, many of our current participants still reported similar mundane activities as memorable
events from the previous day.
SITUATIONAL EXPERIENCE AROUND THE WORLD
20
Grossmann, & Woodward, 2008). Nonetheless, similar to the original study, the average reported
situation around the world was social and positive in nature, giving us added confidence in the
reliability of this conclusion.
Additionally, the similarity of each country’s situational experience to the world at large
was assessed by averaging the profile correlations between it and every other country within its
respective sample. Among the 20 countries included in both studies, their degree of similarity to
the world at large was highly similar. Indeed, Canada was the most similar in the original study,
and one of four countries tied for similarity in the current project.
While Uganda was not included in the original study, it is worth noting that its average
situational experience was an extreme outlier in this sample, with an average correlation with
other countries of just r = .18. It is unclear if this peculiarity was due to a lack of applicability of
the scale, misconceptions of item meanings, or other potential issues. For our Ugandan sample
these issues are particularly perplexing due to the measure being administered in English, which
would seem to avoid potential problems with translations. The issue appears to be unique to the
RSQ; other measures did not show any distinctive patterns for the Ugandan sample. Further
research is necessary to examine potential issues of administering the RSQ to particular samples.
Similar difficulties arise in interpreting the extent to which the homogeneity of situational
experiences replicated across studies. Although the main finding did indeed replicate –
individuals within countries report experiencing more similar situations than those in different
countries – further analyses show that the relative homogeneity of specific countries did not
replicate across studies. The countries with the greatest homogeneity of situational experience
were the Netherlands in the current study, and Japan in the original study. In the current study,
Japan came in 56th out of 62 countries. It is unclear if these differences arose due to different
SITUATIONAL EXPERIENCE AROUND THE WORLD
21
countries being included in the two studies, or are due to extreme cases regressing to the mean
(Barnett, Van Der Pols, & Dobson, 2004).
Both studies did find that individuals within countries reported situations more similar to
each other than to those of individuals in different countries. As displayed in Table 8, although
these differences were small, the average within and between country correlations also lie
outside of their respective confidence intervals. This gives further support to the idea that each
country has unique characteristics and demands which influence the situations that individuals
experience. Future research including objective measures of situations (Blake, Lee, De La Rosa,
& Sherman, in press) is necessary to understand if these differences are related to observable
differences in environments across countries or to subjective interpretations. Future research may
also benefit from having independent observers rate the situations described or recorded by
participants (Rauthmann, Sherman & Funder, 2015).
The current study failed to replicate the finding that aspects of situational experience that
varied the most across countries were more negative than those that varied less across countries;
in fact, the mean difference was in the opposite direction. One potential explanation is the
difference in methodology across studies. By being prompted to report any situation that they
remember well, participants may have disproportionately reported emotionally valanced
situations compared to the original study. However, the authors believe that this result better
illustrates the hazards of post-hoc interpretations of surprising findings, even when seemingly
plausible grounds can be found for them (see the Discussion in The World at 7:00). Replication
of intriguing but unanticipated results is critical and, as found in the present study, may lead to
disappointing yet informative results.
Country-Level Correlates
SITUATIONAL EXPERIENCE AROUND THE WORLD
22
Finally, the current study found many more links between situational experience and
country-level variables than did the original study. Perhaps due to differences in the number of
countries included in the respective samples (N = 20 for the original study, N = 62 for the current
study), the current study identified a greater number of values, personality traits, and
demographic country-level variables to be related to situational experience (see Table 8).
Particularly for the values dimensions (Hofstede, 1983), while the original article only found
greater than chance relationships with Individualism, the current study found relationships with
nearly all of the variables (excluding Masculinity). Interestingly, even though fewer values
variables passed the significance “bar” in our original study, the patterns of relationships
between the two studies still are remarkably similar – a finding which highlights the limitations
of evaluating findings solely in terms of customary (and arbitrary) significance thresholds. We
shall return to this point below.
To examine the relationships between the Big Five personality traits and situational
experience at the country level, we measured traits using two different methods. Specifically,
when the Big Five personality traits scores were obtained from previous research (Schmitt, Allik,
McCrae, & Benet-Martínez, 2007), the current study found greater than chance relationships
between situational experience and Conscientiousness, Neuroticism, and Openness. The original
study only found reliable relationships for Neuroticism and Openness. Alternatively, when
country-level traits were computed using our own participants’ scores on the BFI-2 (Soto &
John, 2017), we found more significant relationships than would be expected by chance
(Sherman & Funder, 2009), between the RSQ and all traits, except Extraversion.
Overall, when comparing across measures of the Big Five, it is clear that the relationships
between personality and situational experience are more similar when the traits are measured
SITUATIONAL EXPERIENCE AROUND THE WORLD
23
with the same instrument (NEO-PI-R vs BFI-2). The similarity of results across studies,
regardless of which personality measure was used, also increased noticeably when restricted to
countries that are present in both studies. Potential explanations for the differences that arose
include the inseparable nature of personality and culture (Markus & Kitayama, 1998) and the
variability of social norms (Gelfand et al., 2011; Reno, Cialdini & Kallgren, 1993). However, it
is also important to note that despite the lower correlations when comparing results across
different measures and countries, the correlations were still largely positive and significant,
suggesting meaningful relationships exist beyond these specific concerns.
The final set of analyses explored relationships between situational experience and GDP
per-capita and population density. In the current study, both of these variables were correlated
with more characteristics of situational experience than would be expected by chance. The
previous study found far fewer significant correlations. Despite this difference, further analyses
show strong similarity in the pattern of results across studies (see Table 8).
Overall, the results reported in this article should encourage future research to explore the
relationships between situational experience and demographic variables, values, and other
markers of culture. Of potentially greater importance, given the large number of comparisons
conducted in cross-cultural studies, researchers should carefully consider the criteria they use to
identify effects as “real.” Using the randomization test in The World at 7:00 did indeed help us
identify patterns of effects that arose beyond chance, but it also could have led us to ignore what
we now consider to be reliable relationships. That is, with a sample of 20 countries, using the
metric of the number of correlations that fall under p < .05 or the average effect size of said
relationships, the results of our simulations suggested that the relationships were negligible. Yet
in many cases the overall pattern of results was consistent with the findings of the second, much
SITUATIONAL EXPERIENCE AROUND THE WORLD
24
larger study. A conclusion to be drawn from this experience is that a sample of “only” 20
countries is far from sufficient to draw robust conclusions about cross-cultural differences.
Larger and more wide-ranging studies are needed.
Conclusion: On “Replication”
In discussions of the “replication crisis” in psychology, various definitions have been
offered for terms such as replication, conceptual replication, exact replication, and so on (e.g.,
Stroebe & Strack, 2014). The present study does not adhere to any of these exact definitions, nor
do we believe that any one-size-fits-all definition of “replication” is reasonable. For our analyses,
we assessed the reliability of the principal findings in a large, cross-cultural study of situational
experience by comparing them as closely as possible to the findings of a separate, even larger
cross-cultural study. We repeated the key analyses of the first study as closely as we could with
the data from the second study and drew conclusions about the similarity of the two sets of
findings that are summarized in Table 8. We believe this is the most informative way to assess
the reliability of multiple findings from large, complex data sets.
Our efforts provide further evidence for the importance of investigating situations in
cross-cultural research and conducting difficult replications. The consistent increase in similarity
of results across studies when cross-cultural comparisons were limited to the same countries
highlight the complex interplay of culture and situational experience. While specific
relationships between countries may be difficult to capture, the current study garnered further
support for general trends in the similarity of situational experience and country-level
relationships across the world.
SITUATIONAL EXPERIENCE AROUND THE WORLD
25
Declaration of Conflicting Interests
The author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship,
and/or publication of this article.
SITUATIONAL EXPERIENCE AROUND THE WORLD
26
Funding
The authors disclosed receipt of the following financial support for the research, authorship,
and/or publication of this article: the research was supported by the US National Science
Foundation under Grant BCS-1528131. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or
recommendations expressed in this material are those of the individual researchers and do not
necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation. The Center for Open Science
built and hosted the multi-lingual data-gathering website. Data gathering in the Czech Republic
was supported by grant 17-14387S by the Czech Science Foundation and by institutional
research funding RVO: 68081740 from the Institute of Psychology, Czech Academy of Sciences.
Data gathering in Chile was partly supported by the Centre for Social Conflict and Cohesion
Studies (FONDAP 15130009) and Center for Intercultural and Indigenous Research (CIIR)
(FONDAP 15110006).
SITUATIONAL EXPERIENCE AROUND THE WORLD
27
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SITUATIONAL EXPERIENCE AROUND THE WORLD
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Table 1
Description of Samples Across 62 Countries
Country Language of Assessment n Females Males Mean Age
Argentina Spanish 140 110 30 24.28
Australia English 196 149 47 19.84
Austria German 113 92 21 21.26
Bolivia Spanish 135 78 57 21.01
Brazil Portuguese 310 223 86 23.69
Bulgaria Bulgarian 152 106 44 25.02
Canada French 304 239 63 21.85
Chile Spanish 386 255 129 21.47
China Mandarin 432 207 219 22.63
Colombia Spanish 181 134 47 21.68
Croatia Croatian 218 141 77 21.46
Czech Republic Czech 193 156 37 22.65
Denmark Danish 246 195 49 22.92
Estonia Estonian 293 246 47 25.88
France French 231 195 33 22.58
Georgia Georgian 140 112 28 22.29
Germany German 458 341 113 24.36
Greece Greek 225 180 43 22.57
Hong Kong Cantonese 144 84 58 18.99
Hungary Hungarian 178 106 70 21.76
India English 221 110 111 22.38
Indonesia Indonesian 131 68 61 21.83
Israel Hebrew 173 105 66 25.42
Italy Italian 717 463 254 21.86
Japan Japanese 243 150 92 22.56
Jordan Arabic 141 114 27 19.87
Kenya English 139 91 48 21.17
Latvia Latvian 169 140 29 24.87
Lithuania Lithuanian 145 113 31 22.26
Macedonia Macedonian 54 40 14 21.22
Malaysia Malay 230 162 66 21.52
Mexico Spanish 247 143 102 23.85
Netherlands Dutch 301 244 56 22.14
New Zealand English 129 111 18 19.19
Nigeria English 135 45 89 24.72
Norway Norwegian 159 118 41 23.89
Pakistan English 114 57 57 22.61
Palestine Arabic 295 246 49 22.17
Peru Spanish 74 45 27 22.66
Philippines English 337 229 102 19.69
Poland Polish 234 195 39 22.35
Portugal Portuguese 157 137 19 21.77
Romania Romanian 177 101 76 22.84
SITUATIONAL EXPERIENCE AROUND THE WORLD
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Russia Russian 159 124 34 21.90
Senegal French 635 301 333 23.31
Serbia Serbian 185 159 25 19.72
Singapore English 136 106 30 22.93
Slovakia Slovakian 148 103 45 22.41
Slovenia Slovenian 123 70 52 22.59
South Africa English 256 170 85 22.20
South Korea Korean 281 164 117 22.35
Spain Spanish 419 357 62 19.73
Sweden Swedish 130 91 35 -
Switzerland German 755 632 119 22.35
Taiwan Taiwanese 162 124 38 19.71
Thailand Thai 196 151 37 19.27
Turkey Turkish 329 224 104 21.09
Uganda English 93 60 33 22.63
Ukraine Ukrainian 244 188 55 22.62
United Kingdom English 136 121 15 25.64
United States English 1366 921 439 19.86
Vietnam Vietnamese 168 129 38 19.05
Note. Total N = 15,318 (Females: 10,771, Males: 4,468, Other: 79), with a mean age of 21.91.
Age in Sweden was not recorded. The language of assessment is reported for the most frequently
used language in each country.
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Table 2
Means of RSQ Items Across 62 Countries
Item # RSQ Item Overall Females Males
rsq007 Talking is permitted. 6.56 6.59 6.49
rsq047 Social interaction is possible. 6.42 6.45 6.36
rsq039 Emotions can be expressed. 6.29 6.36 6.15
rsq067 The situation could arouse positive emotions. 6.24 6.22 6.28
rsq001 The situation is potentially enjoyable. 6.13 6.13 6.21
rsq062 The situation is simple and clear-cut. 6.08 6.07 6.11
rsq089 It is important for people to get along. 6.04 6.07 5.98
rsq008 Talking is expected or demanded. 5.88 5.93 5.80
rsq042 The people who are present have close personal 5.87 5.93 5.70
relationships with each other.
rsq011 Minor details are important. 5.79 5.80 5.76
rsq024 Self-control is necessary 5.79 5.78 5.80
rsq023 A decision needs to be made. 5.75 5.73 5.78
rsq003 A job needs to be done. 5.71 5.71 5.73
rsq044 The situation could be intellectually stimulating. 5.70 5.68 5.79
rsq072 Success requires cooperation. 5.69 5.67 5.73
rsq077 Many things are happening at once. 5.66 5.67 5.62
rsq021 A reassuring person is present. 5.64 5.72 5.44
rsq013 Intelligence is important 5.63 5.59 5.74
rsq069 There are opportunities to display verbal fluency 5.60 5.63 5.57
rsq090 Entertainment is present. 5.58 5.55 5.66
rsq029 It is important for you to make a good impression. 5.53 5.51 5.58
rsq006 Someone is counting on you to do something. 5.52 5.54 5.50
rsq043 Someone present (other than you) is counted on to do 5.46 5.48 5.42
something.
rsq052 Clear rules define appropriate behavior 5.43 5.41 5.46
rsq048 The situation is humorous or potentially humorous. 5.42 5.41 5.50
rsq045 Assertiveness is required to accomplish a goal. 5.42 5.41 5.43
rsq050 Sensations are important 5.42 5.46 5.33
rsq070 People who are present occupy different social roles 5.39 5.40 5.33
or levels of status.
rsq040 It is possible to ruminate, daydream or fantasize. 5.38 5.39 5.35
rsq038 Quick action is necessary. 5.34 5.33 5.37
rsq034 Unusual ideas or points of view are being discussed 5.31 5.31 5.34
freely.
rsq018 The situation is playful. 5.29 5.28 5.35
rsq009 Someone is asking you for something. 5.29 5.29 5.31
rsq056 Ambition can be expressed or demonstrated. 5.28 5.24 5.39
rsq088 New relationships could develop. 5.28 5.26 5.28
rsq031 The situation includes small annoyances. 5.27 5.28 5.23
rsq079 People are working hard. 5.26 5.25 5.28
rsq010 Someone needs help. 5.21 5.24 5.14
rsq046 Desires could be gratified 5.21 5.24 5.13
SITUATIONAL EXPERIENCE AROUND THE WORLD
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rsq068 The situation could arouse negative emotions. 5.17 5.17 5.16
rsq041 The situation is noisy 5.15 5.15 5.16
rsq026 Someone needs or desires reassurance. 5.14 5.20 4.96
rsq030 The situation could make people tense and upset. 5.14 5.13 5.12
rsq019 The situation is rapidly changing 5.09 5.10 5.07
rsq049 You are the focus of attention. 5.06 5.08 4.99
rsq080 Food is important in this situation. 5.04 5.09 4.93
rsq073 Someone is complimenting or praising you. 5.02 5.04 4.98
rsq066 Others want advice from you. 5.02 5.03 4.99
rsq055 The situation is potentially anxiety-inducing. 5.00 5.03 4.90
rsq078 People are being physically active. 4.99 4.96 5.05
rsq037 Moral or ethical issues are relevant. 4.96 4.98 4.92
rsq063 People are comparing themselves to each other. 4.94 4.90 5.03
rsq082 Family is important in this situation. 4.92 5.03 4.62
rsq033 People are disagreeing about something. 4.88 4.87 4.94
rsq074 Femininity can be expressed. 4.86 5.03 4.49
rsq005 Someone is trying to convince you of something. 4.86 4.86 4.89
rsq087 Music is an important part of this situation. 4.85 4.86 4.81
rsq076 Someone needs to be taken care of. 4.85 4.90 4.71
rsq002 The situation is complex. 4.84 4.82 4.88
rsq057 The situation could make you feel inadequate. 4.75 4.76 4.73
rsq084 Money is important. 4.73 4.73 4.76
rsq027 The situation is frustrating 4.73 4.73 4.68
rsq081 The situation is physically uncomfortable 4.68 4.70 4.61
rsq065 Masculinity can be expressed. 4.63 4.47 5.05
rsq004 Someone is trying to impress you. 4.62 4.60 4.66
rsq025 People are competing with each other. 4.61 4.52 4.85
rsq060 The presence of members of the opposite sex is an 4.50 4.46 4.61
important part of this situation.
rsq071 You are being pressured to conform to the actions of 4.45 4.44 4.46
others.
rsq054 Art is an important part of the situation. 4.45 4.45 4.46
rsq020 Someone is unhappy or suffering. 4.44 4.48 4.33
rsq061 Potential or actual romantic partners (for you) are 4.38 4.37 4.40
present.
rsq064 Power is important. 4.36 4.31 4.44
rsq028 Your physical attractiveness is important. 4.33 4.32 4.36
rsq032 The situation could make people feel hostile. 4.31 4.31 4.35
rsq086 Someone is feeling shame. 4.31 4.32 4.29
rsq053 Someone is breaking rules. 4.31 4.27 4.37
rsq014 It is not clear what is going on; the situation is 4.29 4.30 4.22
uncertain.
rsq083 A matter of honor is at stake. 4.28 4.23 4.39
rsq036 Emotional threats are present. 4.26 4.26 4.25
rsq051 The situation is relevant to your health 4.20 4.19 4.23
rsq016 Someone is criticizing you 4.14 4.11 4.20
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rsq017 Someone is attempting to dominate or boss you. 3.98 3.98 3.99
rsq085 People are participating in athletics or sports. 3.90 3.82 4.09
rsq022 Someone is blaming you for something. 3.80 3.78 3.85
rsq012 Politics are relevant 3.79 3.76 3.89
rsq058 Sexuality is relevant. 3.78 3.75 3.88
rsq075 Religion is relevant in this situation 3.68 3.70 3.65
rsq015 Someone is under threat. 3.50 3.50 3.50
rsq035 Physical threats are present. 3.46 3.41 3.58
rsq059 You are being abused or victimized. 2.97 2.93 3.05
Note. The overall, female, and male RSQ item means were computed with respect to country.
The vector correlation for the means of overlapping RSQ items with Guillaume et al., 2013 was r
(67) = .86, p < .001.
SITUATIONAL EXPERIENCE AROUND THE WORLD
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Table 3
Intercorrelations of RSQ profiles
Country Average r 95% CI Average rw 95% CIw
Argentina .83 [.80, .85]
Australia .85 [.82, .87] .83 [.81, .85]
Austria .82 [.80, .85] .83 [.82, .84]
Bolivia .84 [.82, .87]
Brazil .83 [.80, .85]
Bulgaria .78 [.75, .80]
Canada .85 [.83, .88] .89 [.88, .90]
Chile .86 [.84, .88]
China .83 [.81, .86] .84 [.83, .85]
Colombia .78 [.76, .81]
Croatia .84 [.81, .86]
Czech Republic .82 [.80, .85] .84 [.82, .84]
Denmark .77 [.75, .80] .83 [.82, .84]
Estonia .82 [.80, .85] .85 [.83, .86]
France .81 [.79, .85]
Georgia .74 [.72, .77]
Germany .82 [.90, .85] .85 [.84, .86]
Greece .81 [.79, .84]
Hong Kong .81 [.79, .84]
Hungary .83 [.81, .86]
India .77 [.74, .79]
Indonesia .78 [.75, .80]
Israel .76 [.73, .78]
Italy .83 [.81, .86] .85 [.84, .86]
Japan .80 [.78, .82] .80 [.79, .81]
Jordan .69 [.67, .72]
Kenya .72 [.70, .75]
Latvia .81 [.78, .83]
Lithuania .78 [.76, .81]
Macedonia .80 [.78, .83]
Malaysia .66 [.63, .68]
Mexico .84 [.82, .88]
Netherlands .84 [.82, .88] .84 [.83, .85]
New Zealand .79 [.77, .82]
Nigeria .67 [.65, .70]
Norway .82 [.79, .84]
Pakistan .72 [.70, .76]
Palestine .71 [.68, .73]
Peru .84 [.82, .88]
Philippines .85 [.83, .88]
Poland .81 [.79, .84] .85 [.84, .86]
Portugal .80 [.78, .84]
Romania .82 [.80, .85]
SITUATIONAL EXPERIENCE AROUND THE WORLD
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Russia .82 [.80, .85] .85 [.84, .86]
Senegal .71 [.69, .74]
Serbia .83 [.81, .87]
Singapore .85 [.83, .88] .88 [.87, .89]
Slovakia .83 [.81, .86] .86 [.85, .87]
Slovenia .83 [.81, .86]
South Africa .83 [.81, .86] .83 [.82, .84]
South Korea .82 [.79, .84] .80 [.79, .81]
Spain .85 [.83, .88] .86 [.85, .87]
Sweden .84 [.82, .87]
Switzerland .84 [.82, .88]
Taiwan .83 [.81, .86]
Thailand .78 [.76, .81]
Turkey .82 [.80, .85]
Uganda .16 [.15, .17]
Ukraine .82 [.80, .84]
United Kingdom .84 [.82, .88] .86 [.85, .87]
United States .86 [.84, .89] .88 [.86, .90]
Vietnam .77 [.75, .79]
Note. The most and least varying countries from their respective samples are highlighted in bold.
Intercorrelations from Guillaume et al., 2013 are denoted by w. In the current study, the pair
countries with the most similar RSQ profiles are the United States and Australia at r = .95, and
the least similar RSQ profiles are Uganda and Bulgaria at r = .02. The vector correlation for the
countries that appear in both samples was r(18) = .60.
SITUATIONAL EXPERIENCE AROUND THE WORLD
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Table 4
Average Inter-Individual RSQ Correlations Within and Between Countries
Country Within Country Between Country Within Countryw Between Countryw
Argentina .22 .15
Australia .22 .16 .17 .17
Austria .11 .11 .18 .18
Bolivia .21 .16
Brazil .16 .13
Bulgaria .16 .13
Canada .14 .13 .18 .18
Chile .16 .12
China .15 .13 .18 .17
Colombia .17 .15
Croatia .16 .14
Czech Republic .22 .16 .23 .19
Denmark .19 .16 .18 .17
Estonia .15 .14 .19 .17
France .21 .16
Georgia .20 .15
Germany .19 .15 .21 .19
Greece .19 .15
Hong Kong .20 .16
Hungary .14 .13
India .18 .15
Indonesia .16 .15
Israel .18 .15
Italy .14 .13 .17 .17
Japan .12 .11 .28 .20
Jordan .16 .14
Kenya .14 .13
Latvia .18 .15
Lithuania .13 .12
Macedonia .17 .15
Malaysia .07 .09
Mexico .12 .11
Netherlands .26 .18 .21 .18
New Zealand .14 .13
Nigeria .17 .15
Norway .15 .13
Pakistan .16 .14
Palestine .16 .13
Peru .15 .13
Philippines .17 .15
Poland .24 .17 .24 .20
Portugal .16 .14
Romania .07 .12
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41
Russia .12 .12 .23 .20
Senegal .12 .12
Serbia .21 .16
Singapore .06 .07 .20 .19
Slovakia .20 .16 .22 .20
Slovenia .22 .16
South Africa .12 .12 .17 .17
South Korea .19 .14 .12 .14
Spain .16 .14 .25 .20
Sweden .09 .08
Switzerland .16 .15
Taiwan .18 .15
Thailand .24 .17
Turkey .17 .13
Uganda .23 .17
Ukraine .17 .15
United Kingdom.11 .09 .21 .19
United States .16 .15 .17 .17
Vietnam .23 .16
Average .166 [.155, .176] .139 [.138, .140] .200 [.183, .216] .180 [.177, .182]
Note. The most and least homogeneous countries for their respective samples are highlighted in
bold. Values from Guillaume et al., 2013 are denoted by w. In the current study, the most
homogeneous pair of countries are the Netherlands and Poland at r = .23, and the least
homogeneous are the United Kingdom and Sweden at r = .01. For countries that appear in both
samples, the vector correlation of within country homogeneity was r(18) = .03, and between
country homogeneity was r(18) = -.11.
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Table 5
Most and Least Varying RSQ Items Across Countries
Most Varying RSQ Items Least Varying RSQ Items
RSQ Item Mean Positivity Eta RSQ Item Mean Positivity Eta
Talking is permitted. 6.56 6.39 .29 The situation could be intellectually 5.70 7.26 .14
stimulating.
Social Interaction is possible. 6.42 7.03 .27 The situation is physically 4.68 2.63 .14
uncomfortable.
Religion is relevant in this situation. 3.68 4.71 .27 Potential or actual romantic partners 4.38 7.05 .14
are present.
The situation is potentially anxiety 5.00 2.89 .27 A decision needs to be made. 5.75 5.05 .13
inducing.
You are being abused or victimized. 2.97 1.37 .26 Music is an important part of this 4.85 7.34 .13
situation.
Physical threats are present. 3.46 1.63 .25 Others want advice from you. 5.02 6.29 .13
Moral or ethical issues are relevant. 4.96 5.26 .24 Someone is feeling shame. 4.31 2.61 .13
The situation could arouse positive 6.24 7.97 .23 People who are present occupy 5.39 5.29 .12
emotions. different social roles or levels of
status.
It is possible to ruminate daydream or 5.38 6.71 .22 Success requires cooperation. 5.69 6.53 .12
fantasize.
Power is important. 4.36 4.17 .22 The situation is frustrating. 4.73 2.26 .12
Ambition can be expressed or 5.28 6.29 .22 The presence of members of the 4.50 6.06 .12
demonstrated. opposite sex is an important part of
this situation.
Emotional threats are present. 4.26 1.68 .22 Someone needs help. 5.21 5.11 .12
The situation is potentially enjoyable. 6.13 7.68 .22 Someone is trying to convince you of 4.86 4.32 .12
something.
The situation is playful. 5.29 7.61 .22 People are competing with each other.4.61 4.37 .12
The situation is humorous or 5.42 8.11 .22 The situation is rapidly changing. 5.09 4.66 .10
potentially humorous.
Average Positivity: 5.30 Average Positivity: 5.12 Note. Positivity of situational experience items were rated by 39 of our collaborators (t(28) = -0.83, p = .41).
SITUATIONAL EXPERIENCE AROUND THE WORLD
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Table 6
Vector Correlations between Situational Characteristics and Values Across Studies
56 Countries 20 Countries
Power Distance .30* .30*
Individualism .47*** .63***
Uncertainty Avoidance .36** .42***
Masculinity .08 .17
Long-Term Orientation .30* .54***
Indulgence .36** .48***
Note. *** = p < .001, ** = p < .01, * = p < .05. Country level value variables are from Hofstede,
1983. The vector correlations were completed using N = 69 RSQ items that were present in both
versions 4.1 and 3.15. For Guillaume et al., 2013 N = 20 countries. In the current study N = 56
countries (value scores were not available for the remaining 8). 20 countries were present in both
samples.
Table 7
Vector Correlations of Situational Correlates from Guillaume et al., 2013
BFI-2 Schmitt et al., 2007
62 Countries 16 Countries 43 Countries 16 Countries
Extraversion .23* .54*** .41*** .57***
Agreeableness .09 .27* .15 .32**
Conscientiousness .21 .46*** .37** .51***
Neuroticism .07 .42*** .31** .66***
Openness .34** .70*** .57*** .63***
Note. *** = p < .001, ** = p < .01, * = p < .05. The vector correlations were completed using N
= 69 RSQ items that were present in both versions 4.1 and 3.15. For all analyses from Guillaume
et al., 2013 measures of country level personality were found in Schmitt et al., 2007 where N =
16 countries. In the current study country level personality traits were computed using BFI-2,
where N = 62 and 16 respectively for all and overlapping samples.
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Table 8
Comparison of Studies
The World at 7:00 The International Situations Project
Sample
Countries 20 62 (20 overlapping)
Languages 14 42
N 5,447 (64% female) 15,318 (70% female)
Measures
Situations RSQ 3.15 (89 items) RSQ 4.1 (90 items, 69 overlapping)
Personality BFI Country Scores (Source: BFI Country Scores (Source: Schmitt et al, 2007)
Schmitt et al., 2007) BFI-2 Individual Scores
Findings
Highest/lowest Average RSQ “Situation is basically simple and “Talking is permitted.” (6.56)
Item Placement clear cut.” (7.01)
“P is being abused or victimized.” (2.17) “You are being abused or victimized.” (2.97)
Correlation of 69 overlapping means across studies: r(67) = .86, p < .001 Similarity of Situational Average r = .84 Average r = .81
Experience Across Countries Relative country similarity across studies r(18) = .60, p = .005 (20 overlapping countries)
Most Similar: Canada Most Similar: Canada
Least Similar: Japan Least Similar: Japan
Homogeneity of Situational Within Country: r = .200 [.183, .216] Within Country: r = .166 [.155, .176]
Experience Between Country: r = .180 [.177, .182] Between Country: r = .139 [.138, .140]
Negativity of 15 Most/Least 15 Most Positive Average: 4.00 15 Most Positive Average: 5.30
Variable RSQ Items 15 Least Positive Average: 5.70 15 Least Positive Average: 5.12
t(28) = 2.71, p = .01 t(28) = -0.83, p = .41 Country-level Correlates of Values: Individualism Values: Individualism,
Situational Experience: Also: Power Distance, Uncertainty, Long-term
Variables that passed Orientation, and Indulgence
Randomization Test p < .05 Personality (Schmitt et al., 2007): Personality (Schmitt et al., 2007): Neuroticism and Openness Neuroticism and Openness
Also: Conscientiousness
Personality (BFI-2): Not Measured Personality (BFI-2): Agreeableness,
Conscientiousness, Neuroticism1, and Openness
SITUATIONAL EXPERIENCE AROUND THE WORLD
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Demographic Variables: None Demographic Variables: GDP per-capita and
Population Density
Vector Correlations Across All Available Countries2: Overlapping Countries Only:
Studies:
(Country-level correlates of
situational experience)
Values: 56 with 20 Countries 20 Overlapping Countries Only Individualism .47*** .63***
Power Distance .30* .30*
Uncertainty Avoidance .36** .42***
Long-Term Orientation .30* .54***
Indulgence .36** .48***
Masculinity .08 .17
Personality (Schmitt Means): 43 with 16 Countries 16 Overlapping Countries Only
Neuroticism .31** .66***
Openness .57*** .63***
Conscientiousness .37** .51***
Agreeableness .15 .32**
Extraversion .41*** .57***
Personality (Schmitt Means 62 with 16 Countries 16 Overlapping Countries Only
and BFI-2):
Neuroticism .07 .42***
Openness .34** .70***
Conscientiousness .21 .46***
Agreeableness .09 .27*
Extraversion .23* .54***
Demographic Variables: 62 with 20 Countries 20 Overlapping Countries Only GDP per-capita .11 .27*
Population Density .38*** .37***
Note. 1The term Neuroticism is used for the N factor (Neuroticism and Negative Emotionality) across Big Five measures for the sake
of consistency. 2Number of countries vary according to available data for ISP countries.